Chapter 75 The Singer, Oh, the Singer 8

She had plenty of clothes and shoes in her pouch, so her outfit wasn't a problem.

It was just this mask…

If she didn't wear a mask, her face would be exposed to other players. When the instance was settled later, her identity would inevitably be discovered. By then, the Special Security Bureau or those conglomerates could use their items to check other players' memories, and her true identity would be completely exposed.

She couldn't just kill people because they saw her face.

The color of this mask was indeed vibrant, and the mask itself had a self-cleaning function; even if it were stained completely black, it would be clean again the next second.

Lin Xiangjun pondered for a moment.

She couldn't take off the mask, but she couldn't go out looking like a red-bottomed monkey either.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xiangjun pulled out a pair of pantyhose.

—Black silk.

She cut off the foot section, stretched the remaining part, and put it around her neck. She could use it as a scarf at home, and pull it up to act like a bandit when she went out.

In a pinch, she could even stretch it out to hang herself.

—It must be stated here that if you want to imitate this, you must use unworn black silk. Nude-colored silk won't cover your face, and used ones are filthy; you might infect your mouth with athlete's foot or get hand, foot, and mouth disease. It's unhygienic.

Lin Xiangjun specially picked the blackest and thickest one. After all, the color would lighten when stretched. To ensure the black silk's coverage, she tried them one by one.

Finally, she chose the 80D one.

Actually, in terms of coverage alone, 120D was the best, but it was too thick. A layer of pantyhose plus a layer of mask made it hard to breathe.

50D was breathable, but the color transmission was too obvious; the red underneath only turned from bright red to dark red, which was still very conspicuous.

80D was just right; it was breathable, and after being covered by the mask, the color appeared as a subtle red, somewhat like a deepened Ankara red, almost like brown.

Lin Xiangjun looked in the mirror and felt very satisfied.

After solving the clothing problem, she turned her attention to the suitcase.

That was how inferior suitcases were; they felt like they were going to fall apart from the bumps on the road, yet when you really wanted to open them to get something, you couldn't open them for a long time. Lin Xiangjun had to restrain her strength to avoid breaking it.

After some effort, the suitcase's lock finally clicked open with a "bang."

A bouquet of blue and white fresh flowers lay quietly in the suitcase.

The bouquet was wrapped in shiny blue vertical-striped floral paper and tied with a white silk ribbon, with a small greeting card resting quietly beside it.

Lin Xiangjun took this bouquet, which could be called a work of art, out of the suitcase and carefully held it, examining it closely.

"With this craftsmanship, wouldn't this sell for 1888 in Shanghai?" Lin Xiangjun clicked her tongue twice. Her aesthetic sense wasn't high, but she could tell this bouquet was pretty—better than the ones they held at school award ceremonies. The layout was compact, with each stem next to another, yet it had a natural, relaxed feel overall.

The greeting card didn't contain any well-wishes either, just a long list of floral materials.

(This bouquet contains: blue hydrangea, white chamomile, white platycodon, white ping-pong chrysanthemum, eucalyptus leaves.)

One could tell that the blue hydrangea was the main flower, with five or six of them placed densely, while the white flowers served as accents, distributed intermittently throughout the bouquet.

【1. The Songstress likes fresh flowers. After she finishes singing, please place a fresh flower in her hand. If she wears a green dress, give her a yellow flower; if she wears a blue dress, give her a red flower; if she wears a red dress, please give her a white flower; when she wears a white dress, do not give her red, white, or yellow flowers.】

The flowers to be given to the Songstress included red, white, and yellow ones, so the chamomile, white platycodon, and ping-pong chrysanthemum in this bouquet were useful.

—If the rules were not wrong, that is.

Lin Xiangjun pulled the white flowers out of the bouquet, took two sheets of floral paper, and tied them into a small bundle with the silk ribbon.

Even though it was the same floral material, she couldn't make it look as good as the original. Lin Xiangjun stared at the ugly little bundle of white flowers in her hand and sighed in the end.

If she had no talent, so be it.

Ugly was ugly. If the rules were correct, the Songstress wouldn't kill her over a bouquet; if the rules were wrong, then no matter how good or bad the bouquet looked, it wouldn't stop her from courting death.

The clues given by the Old Lady were few. Although Lin Xiangjun had some guesses, they were still very rough.

So, she still had to find clues now.

Lin Xiangjun stood up and walked toward the shoe cabinet.

Just now, when the Old Lady went out, she had specifically tapped this place three times with her umbrella. If she couldn't see such an obvious hint, Lin Xiangjun might as well just jump from the top floor instead of taking the stairs or the elevator, and be done with it.

The apartment was small to begin with, so the shoe cabinet couldn't be very big either. Lin Xiangjun opened the cabinet door. On the top shelf of the empty shoe cabinet, a small slip of paper was placed neatly.

【6. The Songstress does not like black jackets and black pants. Do not wear such clothes. If you are wearing them, please change immediately.】

【7. The Songstress likes people who love to play. The daytime is boring; the city at night is more interesting. Explore the unknown to your heart's content.】

Lin Xiangjun raised an eyebrow.

The sixth rule was obviously wrong.

It wasn't that Lin Xiangjun blindly trusted the Old Lady's words, but she had confirmed with her own eyes that the entire alley had this style of dress.

If the Songstress really didn't like people wearing black clothes and black pants, it was impossible for everyone in this alley to be dressed in black, as if they were about to group up and climb onto someone's roof at any moment.

They were all NPCs in the instance, and their actions should conform to the Instance Master and the instance rules. There was no reason for them to dress themselves up so uglily while bearing the Instance Master's disgust.

The Old Lady's words and actions were consistent, so Lin Xiangjun judged her to be in the neutral faction. As long as she didn't anger her, the information obtained from her was highly likely to be true.

The sixth rule was clearly wrong.

Since the seventh rule followed the sixth, it was also highly likely to be wrong.

The Songstress had explicitly stated she liked seeing people dressed like boiler cleaners from the last century, with no jewelry and no dyed hair. Such a conservative image clearly didn't align with "loving to play" or "exploring the unknown."

Rule 6 and Rule 7 were both wrong.

Players had best not go out, and they shouldn't dress too conspicuously.

Clipping the note into her notebook, Lin Xiangjun wrote down the correct rules beside it, fearing she wouldn't remember them later.

Now she had four rules.

How many rules were there in this instance?

Did the whole alley follow this set of rules, or were there different rules for different places, like in the previous instance?

Lin Xiangjun had four rules in her hand now, two of which were in the house. Did this mean there might be rules in other people's houses too?

Lin Xiangjun's eyes flickered.

Were there rules in all the houses... or only in the "clean houses"?

She felt the latter was more likely.

Since she had a hypothesis, Lin Xiangjun immediately put it into action.

When it came to clues, the more you had in your own hands, the better. She couldn't just wait for others to find the rules and selflessly share them, right?